DHUNDHOS AS A RACONTEUR 



caught a glimpse of two large, black, furry objects dis- 

 appearing into the darkness beyond. From their shape 

 and shambling gait, they were bears without a doubt, but 

 we had no time to fire, and as it was obviously impossible 

 to follow them through such a jungle in the dark, we 

 eventually returned to our pipes bemoaning our bad luck. 



The incident had caused quite a commotion in the camp, 

 and even when order had been finally restored, we were far 

 too excited to think of going to bed. Our men, too, in 

 their encampment a yard or two from ours, were evidently 

 in a similar frame of mind, and were listening interestedly 

 to the old shikari, who was recounting an adventure he 

 had once himself experienced with a bear. 



We listened too, somewhat listlessly at first, but were 

 soon as interested in his narrative as the others, for the 

 old man, in his own peculiar way, was an excellent raconteur, 

 and his story, told with all the verve and gesticulation of 

 the finished native story-teller, was one of the strangest 

 we had ever heard. It referred to a period when serving 

 as a forest guard ; he had also filled the office of " shikari " 

 and constant attendant to some by-gone Forest Officer, 

 whom he designated as " Juxon Sahib," doubtless meaning 

 Jackson. 



His narrative, reproduced as faithfully as is possible in 

 English, was as under. 



Late one evening in December, the Forest Officer, 

 accompanied by the narrator and some coolies, while pro- 

 ceeding to a rest house by one of the forest paths, came 

 suddenly upon a bear standing across the track and claw- 

 ing at something lying on the ground. The animal looked 

 up and for the moment seemed as if about to attack them, 

 but evidently alarmed at seeing so large a party, changed 

 its mind and dashed off into the jungle, exposing to view 

 the figure of a man, lying on his back apparently uncon- 

 scious and bleeding from head to foot. 



A wood-cutter's axe lay near him and adhering to its 

 edge was a tuft of hair and grizzle and, a few paces off, 

 what seemed to be the upper part of a bear's ear. 



A closer examination of the man showed that he had 

 been terribly mauled, especially about the face, of which 

 there was little left except the eyes, the rest of the features 



I " 113 



